117: Wartime Diaries - Mishka Ben-David

Israel Story

Judaism, Palestine, Jewish, Stories, Religion & Spirituality, Israel

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2023

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mishka Ben-David might seem – at first – like a harmless and cuddly grandpa, but the truth is that he’s lived many secret lives. He has somehow managed to seamlessly transition from community organizing to academia to horse breeding to an illustrious career as a senior Mossad agent. Today, however, he spends most of his time writing. Over the years he has authored 21 books – a combination of spy novels, love stories, philosophy treaties, and literary criticism. Many of them are local best-sellers and have been translated into surprising languages such as Turkish and Korean. In 2017 he published “The Shark,” a dystopian tale which begins with a Hamas attack on Kibbutz Kfar Azza that is eerily similar to — and in fact almost exactly predicts — the horrors of October 7th.

The end song is Halo Noda (“Isn’t It Known?”) by Danny Sanderson.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a passenger announcement. You can now book your train on Uber and get 10% back in credits to spend on Uber eats.
0:11.0	So you can order your own fries instead of eating everyone else's.
0:15.0	Trains, now on Uber. T's and C's apply. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you care about the war in Israel right now.
0:30.0	And you've been reading the headlines, Massacre and Gaza, genocide perpetrated by Hamas, no by Israel.
0:38.0	But if you've been listening to this podcast long enough, you know one thing. This stuff seems complicated and honestly
0:46.1	you shouldn't just pick aside or decide your opinion without really learning,
0:50.3	without really knowing what you're talking about.
0:54.0	And that's where this podcast comes in.
0:57.0	Check out unpacking Israeli history.
1:00.0	They have episodes with topics ranging from what is Hamas anyway to whether Israel should ransom
1:06.5	captured soldiers and the history of Israel and its disengagement from Gaza in 2005. Unpacking Israeli history cuts through the noise
1:16.9	and helps you understand Israel's present through understanding Israel's
1:20.5	history. So educate yourself. Learn the history behind the headlines.
1:27.0	Find unpacking Israeli history wherever you get your podcasts.
1:46.5	So I guess you're the only Israeli to have both tried to kill and save the life of the leader of the Hamas?
1:51.1	Most probably I'm the only one that did the two things.
1:54.4	There are others that did one of the two things.
1:59.2	Hey listeners, it's Mishi.
2:02.1	So as you know during these incredibly difficult days,
2:05.0	we're trying to bring you voices we're hearing among and around us.
2:10.0	These aren't stories, they're just quick conversations, or postcards really, that try to capture slivers of life right now.
2:20.0	Miska Bendavid might look like a harmless and cuddly grandpa. Mesh But the truth is that he's lived many secret lives.
	...

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